Like A Family
by swimmerluver
Summary: OLC ficathon prompt round 2-JavaJunkie, a pineapple, a fight, a blue jay, and a swimming pool. Read and review please!


Lorelai looked up adoringly at Luke as he brought her coffee ,"This is why I love dating the diner boy. I get free coffee, and many, many other perks."

Luke rolled his eyes, and seeing a lull in customers, replied smiling, "Is that the only reason we're together? For the coffee?"

Lorelai gasped, looking offended, "Of course not! You forgot about the Danishes and doughnuts, and especially the pie! And, of course, all of the dirty aspects of the relationship."

He replied, "I'm glad that we got that straight, Lorelai. So what are your plans for tonight?"

"Well, first, I'm going to the airport extremely early. Then I will kidnap Rory and make her promise to never leave me again. Barack Obama and I are going to have a talk. Then I'm bringing her here for your coffee, because she's been extremely deprived. I'm going to get her out of Friday night dinner, and then we're going to have a movie night, which you are also attending."

Rory was coming home for a few days for an unexpected break, and Lorelai had been running around like crazy all week excited for her to come home.

Luke asked, "Don't you want to spend time with Rory alone?"

"I'd rather spend it with my two favorite people in the world, even though Rory will be the center of attention. Please, Luke?"

He gave in, as always, "I'll be there."

Just then, Kirk walked into the diner carrying numerous cages full of birds.

Luke stormed over to him, "What are you doing, Kirk?"

Kirk said formally, "This is the Stars Hollow Aviary Committee, founded by Kirk Gleason. Its aim is to boost the Stars Hollow economy by selling these fine birds and raising money for various enterprises in the Stars Hollow community. I have for you today many different kinds of birds. Robins, hummingbirds, and blue jays are our most common birds at the moment. Lulu loves robins, but I would consider you getting Lorelai a blue jay, Luke. It matches her eyes."

Luke pointed to the door, "Get out, Kirk."

Lorelai was already next to the blue jay cage, "Hi there, blue jay! You're such a cute little bird! Isn't he a cute bird, Luke?"

"Birds are disgusting, Lorelai. They carry bacteria, and who knows what else."

Taylor walked into the diner, "Well, I see that you've made a great start, Kirk. It would be great if you could make at least one hundred dollars by the end of today."

Luke shouted, "That's it! What does Taylor have to do with this?"

Kirk stood up straighter, "In return for some of the proceeds to go towards the Stars Hollows Business Committee, Taylor appointed me president of the Stars Hollow Aviary Committee. If you buy a bird, you get a free sample of Taylor's pineapple ice cream at the Soda Shoppe."

Lorelai giggled, enjoying the fight, "Sorry, Kirk. I hate pineapples."

While Kirk tried to think up another prize for buying one of his birds, Luke said, "So let me get this straight. Taylor bribed you to sell birds so that the proceeds could go directly to your store."

Taylor tried to look shocked, "That is a ridiculous accusation, Luke. The proceeds go to the Stars Hollow Business Committee."

Luke bristled, "You're the head of that, Taylor. Get those birds out of my diner."

Taylor backed away slowly, "Now, Luke, you have no right to tell a member of the Stars Hollow Aviary Committee where they can or can not conduct business. This will be brought up at the next town meeting, you know"

"Out!"

As Kirk hastily grabbed his cages, and left with Taylor, Lorelai giggled, "I love it when you fight."

Luke glared at the Soda Shoppe, where Kirk and Taylor had gone, "I can't believe Taylor!"

Lorelai pouted, "You mean that I can't have Deena?"

"Who?"

"The blue jay. She looks like a Deena, doesn't she?"

As Luke walked away to get a customer's order, Lorelai watched him with a smile on her face. Everything was perfect right now, especially because Rory was coming home. She was glad that Luke wanted to spend time with them, because it put everything together. It was almost like they could be a family, except they weren't. Ever since they had kissed that night at Rory's party that Luke had thrown together, all she had wanted to do was to be with him. Part of her desperately wanted things to move fast. They had both been waiting for so long. Another part of her loved how sweet he had been to her. It was almost as if they had had no baggage. Yes, in the beginning they had gone over what had gone wrong with them. But the painful rehashing was over, and Lorelai had been enjoying every sweet savory moment with him. And she certainly knew that getting engaged didn't mean that you were getting married. The first part of her kept taking over. It kept telling her over and over again that she couldn't be happy unless Luke proposed, which was ridiculous, because she'd never been more content in her life.

She kissed him goodbye, and left to scour the Hello Kitty shops. After all, Rory did need a souvenir to remind her of Stars Hollow.

Lorelai and Rory walked into the diner. As Rory hugged Luke excitedly, he asked, "What took you so long?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Someone actually wanted to go to Friday night dinner."

Rory replied, "Grandma and Grandpa would be extremely disappointed if they didn't get to see me. Besides, I missed them."

Lorelai said, "Yes, but going there made them want to see you even more, so now we have to go to their pool party."

Luke asked, "They're having a pool party?"

Lorelai replied, "Apparently. And they said that I had to invite you, Luke. It's tomorrow at one. I know that that's the last thing that you want to do, but Rory already agreed to go."

Luke said, "I don't mind."

Lorelai sighed, "Well, hopefully we can get out of there quickly. So, do you have the food ready?"

Luke handed her a huge bag filled to the brim, "Here you go. I'll meet you there in a minute."

As Rory was about to follow her mom, he said, "Rory, Jess was here a few weeks ago and left you a note."

Rory looked surprised, "Okay."

Lorelai looked at Luke, "A note? You didn't mention it to me."

Luke said, "It wasn't supposed to be that big of a deal, Jess said. I think it was just a few book recommendations."

Lorelai said, "Fine. Then I'll meet you all at the Crap Shack in a few minutes."

As Luke closed the door behind her, Rory said, "Did Jess really give me a note? Or is there some reason you want to talk to me in private?'

Luke said, "Jess did give me his newest book that he wants you to read.'

She smiled and blushed a little, "That was nice of him. I've already read it, though. I got it right when it came out."

Luke nodded, "I'm sure that he'll be happy to hear that."

Rory asked, "So why am I really here, Luke?"

Luke said abruptly, "I want to ask your mother to marry me."

Rory grinned. She had seen something like this coming, "Wow, that would be really great."

"You think so?"

She replied, "Yes, I do. And I know Mom would be really happy."

He nodded, "I just wanted to ask you first, to make sure it was okay."

Rory said, "I'm glad that you did. I hate that I missed this last time, and now I want to find out every detail. When are you going to ask her?"

Luke replied, "I'm still trying to figure that out. I really wanted to do it while you were here, because she's happiest when she's with you. It would be great if April was in town, but she has school in New Mexico."

Rory nodded, "Well, I don't mind if you take her out to dinner sometime this week."

Luke said, "I want you there, Rory. I was thinking of the pool party, but then I realized that her parents would be there."

Rory suddenly had a flashback of Logan proposing to her in front of all of her grandparents' friends, and said, "I think that Mom would say yes no matter how you asked her. If you're insisting that I come, then why don't we just keep it simple? She's going to say yes."

Luke asked, "How can you be absolutely sure that this she'll say yes?"

Rory answered, "Because I know my mom. And I know that you've both been waiting for a very long time."

Luke nodded, "Tomorrow, after the pool party, I'll take you both out to dinner, since we're going to be in Hartford already."

Rory said, "Looks like we have a plan. Are you sure that you want me there?"

Luke said, "Absolutely. I'm not taking away any of your mother's time with you."

"Well, thank you. We better get back to the house before Mom eats all of the food."

The movie night went well, and Lorelai wasn't too suspicious, although she did keep asking Rory what the note from Jess said.

Lorelai was apprehensive about the pool party, but even that went smoothly. Her parents weren't even rude to Luke. She actually ended up enjoying herself.

Rory was also enjoying herself. She couldn't wait until the dinner tonight, because keeping a secret from her mother was almost impossible. She also was happy to see that the relationship between her mother and her grandparents was doing really well.

As they finally extracted themselves from the pool house, with Rory promising to stop by the house before she went to the airport, Luke said, "Why don't we go out to dinner, since we're already in Hartford?"

Lorelai looked surprised, "We just ate."

Rory said, "But it's four in the afternoon. We could go shopping, work up an appetite, and then go out to eat."

Lorelai grinned, "Fine with me. I'm already getting hungry anyway."

After two hours of shopping, they went out to dinner. Lorelai was happy to see that she had been right. They were like a family together. She was enjoying that fact that she had Rory with her.

During dessert, Luke said, "Rory's here."

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah, I know." She wondered why Rory hadn't said anything, like yes, Luke, I am here."

Luke asked her, "Are you happy?"

Lorelai looked confused, "Yeah."

Luke looked at Rory and she smiled encouragingly back at him, "Lorelai, will you marry me?"

Lorelai was shocked. A few seconds ago she had been ready to mock his next comment, because he had been making no sense. Now she was speechless. This was what she had been waiting for. She didn't even have to hesitate, "Yes."

There was no need for either of them to say anything else. Lorelai leaned across the table and kissed Luke, the only man that she had ever loved. They sat there, grinning awkwardly at each other. Suddenly, Lorelai said, "Rory! You knew this whole time, didn't you?"

Rory said, "I have nothing to say to you except congratulations."

Lorelai persisted, "You did know. You had that lying face of yours on all day today."

Rory replied, "I don't have a lying face!"

"Oh, yes, you do. You're too innocent to lie normally, so when you do, you have a lying face."

Rory turned away from her mother, "Congratulations, Luke."

"Thanks."

Yes, Lorelai had been constantly dreaming of when she and Luke would get married. She would never have thought that he would do something as sweet as ask her with Rory's permission when Rory was in Stars Hollow. He was too perfect. And now, as she looked around the table, she could actually say it. They were a family.


End file.
